Two weeks ago the Phillies demoted Darin Ruf to Triple-A and he won’t be back in Philadelphia anytime soon, as Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News reports that the 27-year-old first baseman/outfielder has a broken bone in his left wrist.

Ryan Howard walked the Phillies off with a three-run homer. Josh Donaldson did the same thing for the Athletics. Really, if you weren’t hitting walkoff three-run homers last night, we don’t want to know you.

Ryan Howard batted cleanup for the Phillies on Opening Day, going 2-for-5 with a walk (and three strikeouts) in a wild 14-10 win over the Rangers, but manager Ryne Sandberg is switching things up for Game 2 tonight.

MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports that Phillies outfielder/first baseman Darin Ruf has been diagnosed with a Grade 1/2 left oblique strain and will be out four to six weeks as a result. Ruf suffered the injury taking a swing during batting practice. Ruf was competing for a roster spot as a back-up outfielder and first baseman.…

Southpaw Bill Bray, a six-year Major League veteran, announced his retirement via Twitter on Sunday evening. Hard for me to believe as I type this, but I am officially retiring from professional baseball. #MLB pic.twitter.com/FM0sh3SOWH — Bill Bray (@wpbray) March 17, 2014 Bray had expressed intent to continue his career in February, but he says…

Between now and Opening Day, HardballTalk will take a look at each of baseball’s 30 teams, asking the key questions, the not-so-key questions, and generally breaking down their chances for the 2014 season. Next up: The Philadelphia Phillies. The Big Question: Can the Phillies have all of their key players stay healthy for an entire…

While reports swirl about their long-term contract talks the Angels have given Mike Trout a $1 million salary for 2014, which is almost double what they were required to pay him based on his service time. That makes sense, from a performance standpoint and from a keeping Trout happy standpoint, and it also hints at…

I saw a pic of a raccoon sitting in the bleachers at Steinbrenner Field the other day. The Phillies have one-upped the Yankees: There is a possum watching the Phillies play catch. He climbed to the top of the outdoors fence. Police fear he is rabid. — Matt Gelb (@magelb) February 19, 2014 ! RT…